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Juergens
TENURE TRACKS
Retirees recall experiences of a lifetime at UMMC
Call them the 40-and-over Club. The University of Mississippi Medical Center honored 67 retirees who have
25 or more years of service to the institution at a ceremony on June 22, and of those employees, four had a
career that spanned 40 or more years. Who are they? What motivated them to stay? These are their stories.
Librarian counts friendships
among greatest collections
By Patrice Sawyer Guilfoyle
In 44 years, David Juergens has collected
enough memories and stories to fill several
shelves in the Rowland Medical Library where
he spent his entire Medical Center career.
There’s the conversation he had with Dr.
Arthur Guyton, former professor and chair
of physiology, about finding a tombstone of
a possible Guyton ancestor in one of the
cemeteries on the Medical Center property.
As a history buff, he spent many a lunch
hour walking through historical cemeteries
that border the Medical Center, reading
gravestones and identifying other signs of
graves such as depressions in the soil.
“It’s the living you may have to
fear, not the dead,” he said.
He worked with Dr. Robert E. Blount, Medical
Center director from 1971-73, to find information on a family matter.
He assisted the first School of Nursing dean, Christine Oglevee, with
developing the first SON Humanities Collection when nursing students
lost library privileges at Millsaps College.
When Juergens detected a physical ailment in 1982 that concerned
him, he reached for the phone and called a friend – Dr. James D. Hardy,
professor of surgery and first chair of the Department of Surgery. Hardy
made an appointment for Juergens to see him in his private office, and
he confirmed Juergens’ suspicions.
“He set up the surgery within a few days after that,” Juergens said.
“All of these experiences and others like them, such as hunting for
treasure at Goodwill Industries in Jackson with Dr. T.D. Lampton, former
director of student/employee health, and experiencing the many expressions
of generosity given the library and kindnesses toward me by Dr. Julius M.
Cruse, professor of pathology, have meant a great deal to me,” he said.
These interactions are examples of the professional and personal
friendships Juergens formed with library colleagues, faculty and staff
from Mississippi and beyond. At 75, Juergens, UMMC’s first collection
development/acquisitions librarian, has decided to retire, “while I still
feel at the top of my game,” he said.
Juergens will pursue such activities as genealogy, gardening, collecting
and restoring found treasures and some traveling.
A search for a new career opportunity led Juergens to UMMC. He
has a master’s degree in psychiatric social work and previously worked
for the Kentucky Department of Mental Health.
In 1968, he answered an advertisement by the Medical Center
for an acquisitions librarian with a behavioral and social sciences
background.
Juergens has led or assisted in numerous library projects, including
managing the used book sales for Friends of Rowland Medical
Library for 16 years, helping to identify and document more than 180
Mississippi women in the health sciences for the Changing the Face of
Medicine national traveling exhibit in 2008, and establishing the first collection
of dental books at UMMC in time for the opening of the School
of Dentistry in 1975.
Dr. Helen Turner, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said
she was grateful for Juergens’ 44 years of dedicated service to UMMC.
“During this time he has worked tirelessly to improve the Rowland
Medical Library collections and archives for the benefit of our students,
faculty and patients,” she said. “We wish him well in his retirement.”
Of all of his accomplishments, what does Juergens consider his greatest
achievement?
“Organizing, managing and serving patrons who use the UMMC
institutional and library archives,” he said.
Operations supervisor transforms
temp work into SOD career
By Morgan Lee
What began as a
summer job in 1973
turned into a 40-year
career for Linda
Cook.
“I started working at
UMMC and planned on
it just being a summer
job, but I liked it so
much and opportunities
opened and I just didn’t
want to leave,” said Cook,
supervisor of business operations in the School of Dentistry.
“I’ve met a lot of great people here and have seen many of
them go.”
Cook received the B.E. from Mississippi State in 1973. That summer,
she took the advice of her father, Clyde Harrison, who was then director
of television at UMMC, and worked as an ob-gyn business administrative
secretary for a government-funded nurse midwifery program at the
Medical Center.
When the funding for that program ran out in 1985, Cook began
working as supervisor of business operations in the School of Dentistry.
While working at UMMC, Cook met her husband, Dave. Like her
father, Dave worked in television.
Cook has post-retirement plans to work part-time at a catering
company. She also plans to spend more time playing tennis and visiting
family.
Jacque Lynch, director of business operations in the School of Dentistry,
called Cook a “great co-worker.”
“Linda has a great work ethic and anyone who knows her understands
what a wealth of information she can provide regarding UMMC
policies and processes,” Lynch said. “She is extremely knowledgeable
and conscientious and, regardless of what is going on, Linda always
smiles.
“We are going to miss her more than she realizes, but we are happy
that she will have time to enjoy herself.”
Cardio tech known for putting
patient safety, satisfaction first
CENTERVIEW | June 25, 2012 February 27, 2012 | CENTERVIEW
By Morgan Lee
In the 1970s, Sherline Wilson remembers installing an artificial heart
into a calf named Alice, whom she grew to love.
Wilson began researching artificial hearts and lungs at UMMC as a
noninvasive cardiology technician right out of high school. She has been
in the heart station working with X-rays, EKGs and heart ultrasounds for
nearly 45 years.
“Out of all the years
I’ve worked here, I can
truly say I have enjoyed
every minute,” Wilson
said. “When I brought
my mom here to receive
a pacemaker, it was like
coming home again.
“I’ve worked
with a great group of
people and I have
been blessed. I have
learned a lot and I
am going to miss
UMMC.”
She retired in May, but Wilson
still wakes at 5 a.m. every day. She plans to visit her son and grandchildren
in Memphis and spend more time fishing. Her main goal is to
explore Mississippi, the place she has lived all of her life.
By the time Dr. Thomas Skelton, professor of cardiology, started
medical school at UMMC in 1977, Wilson had been working almost 10
years.
“As a cardiovascular technician in various roles, you can just imagine
how much new information, new technology and new work skills she
has had to understand and develop over 45 years,” Skelton said. “I’ll
CookWilson
remember her as someone whose diagnostic work was done professionally
and with the right priorities: Patient safety, comfort and satisfaction
always came first.”
Skelton said that if Wilson saw something of concern on one of the
studies she performed, she was quick to get confirmation with one of the
cardiology staff.
“For many of us at all levels, she taught us from her experience and
by her actions,” he said. “We celebrate 25- and 30-year careers all the
time at UMMC, but it’s just phenomenal to celebrate a lifetime career of
45 years.”
Oncologist steps aside to step up
funding for endowed chairs
By Patrice Sawyer Guilfoyle
After Dr. Ralph Vance
graduated from Murrah High
School in 1964, he spent a
summer at the Medical
Center working as an
orderly.
“At that time, there
were separate water
fountains with signs for
white people and colored
people and separate restrooms,”
he said. “Thank
God when I came back
after four years at Ole
Miss, those labels were
gone.
“I’ve seen the university, over the
years, make drastic changes for the better.”
On June 29, Vance, professor of medicine and an oncologist, will
cap a 40-year career at UMMC. But don’t expect him to take it easy. He
plans to help the University of Mississippi and the Medical Center in
their efforts to fund endowed chairs and professorships.
“I’ve worked since 7th grade. I don’t know how to sit down,” he said.
For more than three decades, Vance has volunteered with the American
Cancer Society, having served as state division president, the first president
of the Mid-South Division and national president of the society.
When Vance began his fellowship training in hematology-oncology
35 years ago, the overall survival rate of those diagnosed with cancer
was in the mid-30s. Now the survival rate is greater than 75
percent.
“The American Cancer Society has been a huge part of my life,” he
said. “It was a great thing for me.”
For his work with the ACS, the Cancer League honored Vance at its
gala last year.
Vance was instrumental in establishing Camp Rainbow, a summer
camp for children affected by cancer. The camp has welcomed children
for 29 years. Additionally, he has taught dozens of medical students
over the years, and he’s still amazed that physicians around the state
remember him.
Vance and his wife, Mary Douglas, are building a home in Oxford
and plan to move there this summer. It sits directly across from
his alma mater.
Vance
PHOTO OF RETIREES ON PAGE 8
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